The jangni cheonmado painting of heavenly horse on a saddle flap from cheonmachong tomb, Gyeongju () is a Silla-era painting discovered at the tomb of Cheonmachong in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The 5th-century painting is designated as the 207th National Treasures of South Korea in 1982.
Background The heavenly horse painting is considered to have been drawn in the 5~6th century in Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. In the founding myth, the Cheonma (“heavenly horse”) appears as a white horse that foretells the birth of the progenitor of Silla. It was a sacred animal that connected heaven and earth.Drawing a heavenly horse in that sense refers to the spiritual culture and religious wish of the ancient people, hoping that the spirit of the buried (the king or the royal family) would reach heaven via the mystical existence.
Even though it is easy to be misunderstood as a mural on the wall or a simply framed one, the drawing was actually painted on a saddle flap (jangni) that is generally used to keep a rider’s clothing clean.
Generally, grasping artistic capability of Silla was quite difficult since the royal burial style of the kingdom featured a timber coffin chamber put inside a pit, packed thickly with massive river stones, and finally sealed under a huge dome of earth without any kinds of the walls inside. This structural characteristic, which is so-called the stone-mound tomb with wooden burial chamber(in Korean: 돌무지덧널무덤) made it difficult to unearth ancient murals or else from the tombs of Silla. Since few paintings are left, the painting, cheonmado is considered the only existing Silla painting in the 5th century, representing its cultural identity and ancient philosophy related to the funeral rituals.
Excavation In 1973, the painting was unearthed in the 155th tumulus (now the tomb of Cheonmachong) located in Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju city. The ancient capital cherishes several types of the ancient tombs, while the Government of South Korea intended to excavate Cheonmachong ahead of much larger tomb of Hwangnamdaechong(98th tumulus, 황남대총). This decision was based on the assumption that unearthing a comparatively smaller tumulus would be less pressured and be a good chance to pile up the relevant experience.
Different from the initial expectation, the tomb in fact possessed more than 10,000 artifacts such as a gold crown, gold cap, gold waist belt, gold diadem, and gilt-bronze shoes worn by the buried, most of which are now held in Gyeongju National Museum. Since the painting with the shape of a flying horse was found, the appellation of the 155th tumulus was renamed to Cheonmachong(The tomb of a heavenly horse).
Description The ancient painting was drawn on a mudguard flap made of birch bark that hangs down from the saddle. The piece is 53 centimeters long, 75 centimeters wide and 0.6 centimeters thick.
Since the saddles were spread on the both sides, two were found stacked together. One was severely damaged, but the other was intact, and the latter one is registered as the national treasure. The vineyard pattern is drawn at the rim, while the white horse at the center is depicted as if it were running toward heaven. Around its mouth and legs is painted an expression of dynamic energy, with flaring mane and tail. The flap is decorated with scrolls around its edge.
See also History of Korea Crown of Silla Gold girdle of Korea Gyeongju Historic Areas
References
Sources